Tag Archives: landfill mining

“There are a lot of building materials and resources that are winding up in landfills,” Wieland says. “People are actually talking about deconstructing things instead of just demolishing them. We’re looking at all the waste materials that come out of the building industry and reusing them is one of the ways to reduce that waste.”

Beginning Friday, January 20th, Recology’s Artist in Residence (AIR) Program will uncover the work of three artists who were granted untethered access to the Recology Center’s 47-acres of castaway materials to reinvent their own gallery exhibitions.

Michael Arcega collects thrown away materials into a shopping cart to be used to create art in his studio at Recology SF Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015. (Drake Newkirk / Xpress)

The residency program will provide the sculptor and installation artists with a studio, a monthly stipend and unlimited access to the dump area for materials. In addition to the time dedicated to the program, Arcega will also teach three classes at SF State and has recently debuted three pieces in the on-campus exhibit Hydarchy: Power, Globalization and the Sea.

The GSC, according to material provided by Team Gemini, will provide its own electricity, generating the equivalent of what would be needed to power 30,000 homes. It will power the industrial park and the COR3 facility, which will serve as the main collection point for municipal solid waste and extract from the weekly waste flow 5,000 tons of recyclables — roughly a quarter of what goes into the landfill now.

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The long-term plan of the project is to eventually collect all incoming waste and to tap into the landfill itself to reclaim already buried material.

“This will redirect a lot of trash from the landfill” said Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady. “This will help the community for generations to come.”